***Early ARC Review***
Caught Up by Navessa Alllen (Into Darkness #2)
Releases June 10th, 2025

This book is a whole different vibe from Lights Out but was good in its own right.

Read if you like:

Second Chance
High School relationship to enemies to lovers
Cam Girl x Mobster
Hidden Identity
Masks
Man Obsessed
He stalks her (lovingly!😅)
Touch her & 💀
Ride-or-💀 Friendships
LGBTQIA+ Rep
Voyeurism/Exhibitionism
Getting Naughty in Church
k!nk Exploration
She makes him beg
"Grab the headboard"
He'll risk it all for Her

⚠️Check content warnings!

This book focuses on Nico "Junior" Trocci, Aly from Lights Out's cousin, and his obsession with his high school girlfriend, Lauren Marchetti. Junior is (begrudgingly) a part of his dad's criminal empire, and Lauren is now a cam girl (think Only Fans). They had a falling out in high school and they haven't had contact since. (Except, unbeknownst to Lauren, Junior is secretly her #1 subscriber, and they've been talking for years!) Yes, he may have been moderately stalking her all these years, but now he's looking to reconnect IRL! Let's just say that Lauren is not receptive to this and needs some convincing...

This book is dark and steamy and morally grey. It's not laugh-out-loud funny like Lights Out, as Junior's personality could not be more different than Josh's, but they are similar in their intensity and obsession over their women! I'm excited for the final book in the trilogy to come!

4.5⭐ 3🌶️

I read an advanced copy of this book, and these are my honest thoughts. Thank you to Navessa Allen and Zando Slowburn for the early review copy via NetGalley! 

I was really hoping this would prove me wrong and meet (or somehow even exceed) the bar set by Lights Out but unfortunately it fell short and was lacking the aspects of the first book that made it fun. This was a pretty standard, dare I say decent, dark romance book but it was lacking the lighthearted and comedic tone of the first one. The only thing really connect these two as a series are the connections between the characters in each otherwise this not a match to Lights Out. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what I’d expected or hoped for from this series and was honestly a bit underwhelming and boring. 

3.5/5 

There’s so much to say but so much I can’t say without ruining this book! I absolutely loved this one BUT I didn’t rate it super high because it didn’t have me as entertained as Lights Out did and it was super super spicy to the point where most of the plot was spice which was a little disappointing after how much plot there was to unpack in Lights Out. 

I did really love the characters and I LOVED that there’s still a cute animal companion to take away some of the seriousness from the plot. I loved Nico and I can’t wait to see who the next book follows if there are more to come! I also loved the little references to the last book and I can’t wait to discuss more with everyone when this book is finally out! I will definitely be getting a physical copy because I did enjoy this and I hope you guys do too! 

Thank you Navessa and Zando for this advanced copy! I cannot put into words how excited I was when I got the email for this arc

I usually am worried about sequels to books that blow up online but I am so happy that this one matched all the things I loved about Lights Out (and dare I say might even be better in my opinion). Even though this book felt a bit more serious/had more tense moments than Lights Out the humorous moments were so fun and I loved  Nic and Lauren’s relationship and how they developed throughout the book. I also love we got to see more of Aly and Josh and seemingly will continue to see more of all the couples as Navessa expands on this series. The spice was amazing, I loved this cast of characters, I love the sex positivity overall and the representation for a non-binary character, overall I loved this book and HIGHLY recommend it if you enjoyed Lights Out. 

Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC!

This is a tough review! Giving this is a 3.75 feels really harsh, because damn did I  enjoy it - I made squealing noises when I saw the ARC was available and devoured it in two sittings. It's a very fun ride, with a great sense of humor and pace, and Navessa Allen does not PLAY when it comes to bringing the spice.

But, unfortunately, it just didn't come close to the charm or originality of Lights Out for me. Compared to the wild plot of the first book that kept me gasping and laughing out loud the entire time, this is a fairly straightforward Mafia romance. Again, it's one that's done very well - just not really what I expected to follow up the first book.

I also didn't really connect with Nic or Lauren the same way I did with the characters in the first book. It felt more like they were written specifically to make the spicy scenes happen rather than being fully fleshed out characters. That's not exactly unheard of for a dark romance book, but still a noticeable difference from the first.

For Mafia romance lovers, especially ones looking for a very spicy book with a lot of voyeurism themes, this is a solid 5/5 standalone and I'll strongly recommend it to anyone looking for that. For people looking more for "Lights Out but make it biker themed", it just isn't quite there.

This was such a fun read. I was so excited to read this and was not disappointed. Nic and Lauren were great, their chemistry? On fire. Navessa wasn’t kidding about that church scene. Loved that we got more of Josh in this. My adorable stalker. 

A Dark and Thrilling Sequel to Lights Out

This was a great direction in character and overall plot advancement. I loved that the original characters were woven into this story without being overbearing.  While the first book relied heavily on a shock and awe / humorous tone, Caught Up brought a more serious and thrilling tone to the series. Don't let it fool you, it's still a dark romance with a solid plot line and good twist at the end. I loved that it wasn't predictable and although vulgar to some at times, it opened my eyes to an industry not often discussed in detail in a positive way (sex industry).  I anxiously await the third book in the series. (Advanced Copy provided through Edelweiss)